Internal combustion engine with disk piston



A ril 12, 1966 4 o. KORF 3,245,389

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE WITH DISK PISTON Filed oct. 31, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 //v VEN TOR:

A froR/vEv 0770 (OFF April 12, 1966 v o. KORF INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE WITH DISK PISTON Filed 001:. 31, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 B ldfld m a Q Q W m m E: W o r ATTORNEY United States Patent M 8 Claims. (31. 123 -1s The invention relates to a combustion engine of the disk piston type, provided with a rotor revolving in a watercooled housing whose front and rear sides are enclosed by parallel headers, the outer cover of said rotor and the inner jacket of the housing forming chambers of varying sizes in which the suction, compression, ignition and exhaust strokes take place.

In a known construction the rotor revolves eccentrically, giving rise to mass forces, which must be equalized by means of counterweights, thus involving not only a loss of energy, but also limiting the rotational speed.

The invention does away with these disadvantages. This is achieved by providing a rotor rotating about a fixed central axis, and which is constructed in a wave-like shape about its periphery, so that the wave crests are disposed within a circular cover, and which rotates at a distance corresponding to the necessary compression volume between the periphery of the rotor, and the inner cylinder cover of the housing. There is further provided in the housing an even number of curve-shaped grooves, for example four of these, which are symmetrically arranged and oppositely spaced, and in which there are lodged pendulum blocks of crescent-shape construction, both side edges of which always abut tightly the periphery of the rotor and which form with the rotor wavecrests of the requisite or desired compression volume. A further compression volume is formed between these wave-crests and the portions of the inner cover of the housing between the crescent blocks.

The housing is further provided with devices for the intake, exhaust and ignition of the gas mixture in each space between the contacting edges of a crescent block and the periphery of the rotor and/or in each space between the contacting edges of adjacent pendulum blocks and the periphery of the rotor. These pendulum block edges, which always abut the periphery of the rotor in every position and in each rotational state of said rotor both between the individual pendulum blocks and the distances between adjacent pendulum blocks of the socalled fixed volume, block oif or define fixed volumes the spatial content of which changes regularly from a maximum value through a minimum value again to a maximum value. 1

Due to the rotational movement of the rotor in a fixed zone, there are distributed over the inner cover of the housing, or the inner surfaces of the pendulum blocks, the volume proportions required. for driving an internal combustion engine, so that the ignition is provided almost instantly after the maximum compression. The wave shape of the rotors periphery is so chosen in dependence both on the housing cover construction and the inner surface shape of the pendulum blocks, that both the suction volumes required for certain gas mixtures and the required compression are achieved whereby, due to the particular shape of the path, the wave contour of the peripheral path may be carried in such a manner, together with a certain arrangement of the ignition system, that during ignition the explosion pressure becomes effective outwardly of the rotor axis, thereby producing the greatest possible force moment -for driving the rotor.

The mechanisms for the inlet and outlet of the gas mixture may consist of known means, e.g. intake and exhaust valves actuated by drive shaft cams, or of slots or other openings, which are uncovered or freed by the side walls of the rotor in certain positions during its opera tion. These mechanisms may be provided at one or both sidewalls of the housing.

By the way of example, the peripheral contour of the rotor passes symmetrically to both axes of the circulai' casing which are disposed perpendicularly to one another and which are congruent \with one another for the utilization of the arriving pendulum blocks.

It is possible to construct and drive, as work chambers or explosion chambers all the chambers formed between the contacting edge-s of adjacent pendulum blocks. Appropriately, however, only one of these two species may also be employed as an explosion chamber. In the last instance, the same spaces which are not equipped as combustion chambers may function as compression chambers which deliver the gaseous content e.g. compressed air either to the combustion chamber or to an accumulator for various uses. A combined internal combustion engine of this type provides first of all the energy required for driving the clear compression chamber and at the same time compresses any desired gaseous medium e.g. air in the compression chambers, thereby producing compressed air.

The disk piston internal combustion engine may also be employed in its entirety as a compressor. The rotor must then be driven by an outside power means and the ignition devices otherwise required, such as spark plugs, are now dispensed with. Furthermore, in this case both of the above mentioned species, or only one of the fixed, variable work chambers between the housing cover or the pendulum blocks and the periphery of the rotor, may be employed for compression.

The above and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred embodiments of the invention.

It is to be understood, however, that the embodiment or embodiments described and illustrated are given by way of illustration only and not of limitation and that various changes in the shape, size and design of the elements thereof may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 illustrate schematically one embodiment of the invention with various positions of the rotor and the pendulum blocks in different phases of the working cycle;

FIG. 7 is an exterior view of the housing viewed from the left;

FIG. 8 is an exterior view of the housing viewed from the right;

FIG. 9 is a cross-section of the housing through the rotor axis;

FIGS. 10, 10a, 11, and 12 illustrate schematically an other embodiment of the invention in various positions;

FIGS. 13, 14, and 15 show schematically still another embodiment in various operational positions; and

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view through the embodiments of FIGS. 10-12 and 13-15, with a schematic representation of the inlet openings or inlet slots and outlet openings or outlet slots.

In all embodiment examples, the numeral 1 indicates, in hatching only, the fixed and cooled housing. In the arcuate recesses of the housing are disposed pendulum blocks 2. Rotor 3, from whose shaft 4 is taken ofl the resulting energy, is mounted in the housing. In the embodiments shown, there are provided four pendulum blocks 2, which are arranged in symmetrical fashion and are diametrically opposed. It is also possible to provide a Patented Apr. '1966" plurality of pendulum blocks, e.g. 8 or 16 pieces. A cylindrical sleeve surface 5, of the cooled housing 1, is disposed between each pair of adjacent pendulum blocks 2. The periphery 6 of the rotor 3 is of a wave-shaped contour which comprises wave crests and wave valleys, which are so arranged that there is provided each required volume for suction, expulsion and compression value opposite the inner sleeve surface of the housing 1 and the arcuate surfaces 7 of the pendulum blocks. Similarly, the wave crests F, G, H, J, of the rotor, are arranged in such a manner that they form a circular contour 9 during rotation.

In the embodiment, the individual Work chambers between the contact and compression edges of each pendulum block 2 are indicated by reference characters a, b, c, d, in FIG. 1 whereas the work chambers disposed between the contact and compression edges 10 of adjacent pendulum blocks 2 are designated by reference characters e, f, g, h. In each instance they are provided with a suction opening 11, an exhaust opening 12 and a spark plug 13. Obviously, the chambers a, b, c, and d can also function as work chambers and each may have an inlet and outlet opening as well as a spark plug. Should the spark plugs be dispensed with, then these chambers with their intake and exhaust valves may function as compression chambers, thus forming an air compressor.

Should it be desired to employ chambers a, b, c, d, as working or explosion chambers, it would be necessary to place particular value or emphasis on the cooling of the pendulum blocks which remain in place and position during the Work cycle, while effecting a pendulum movement in such a manner that it would require a separate device, in order to maintain these blocks in communication with the housings cooling system.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 19 there are provided valves for the inlet and outlet openings. The intake valves 11 are disposed on the right side wall 25 of the housing, the exhaust valves 12 on opposite side wall 26 (FIGS. 7 and 8). Both valve types are operated by cams of the power delivery shaft 4 of the rotor. The gas mixture is led in through circular channel 15 and a carburetor disposed in a common duct, while the exhaust gases pass out through the circular channel 16 into a common exhaust pipe. Following these short explanations of the basic construction of the illustrated embodiments the manner of operation thereof will be explained briefly. FIG. 1 shows the device in an exhaust position. Chambers e and g contain the mixture to be ignited and which is compressed to a minimum volume. Chambers 1 and h are empty. As soon as ignition takes place, the wave crest F of the rotor is displaced to the right by the explosion pressure in the direction of the arrow and arrives into the position shown in FIG. 2. A similar occurrence takes place in chamber g and the wave crest H of the rotor is moved in the direction of the arrow. The laterally disposed valves 11, in the empty chambers f and it, open and the enlarged chambers f and I: suck in a gas mixture. During further rotation the wave crests F and H arrive into the position shown in FIG. 3. In this position, intake valves 11 close, while valves 12 in chambers e and g open. As the rotation progresses, the compression in chambers f and h commences under the influence of wave crests F and H. At the same time the burned gases are expelled from chambers e and g. When wave crests F and H arrive into the position shown in FIG. 5, the compression is completed in chambers f and h, while chambers e and g are emptied. Now follows the ignition in the chambers f and h. The rotor with its wave crests F and H is thereby brought into the position shown in FIG. 6,

chambers are ignited, suck in the gas mixture and expel the burned gases at the same time.

The two embodiments shown in FIGS. 1012 and FIGS. 13 and 15, respectively, differ substantially from the above described embodiments, in that the chambers a, b, c, d are no longer formed as explosion chambers or work chambers between the pendulum blocks 2 and the periphery 6 of the rotor 3, while the intermediately arranged chambers e, f, g, and h are empty chambers. These chambers may be also formed as explosion chambers, as has already been shown in the embodiments of FIGS. 1-9. They may also be formed as compression chambers, which may then be provided with intake and exhaust openings, in order to suck in gases, such as air for example, to compress these and to supply compressed gas to the outlet openings again, for any desired use. In the embodiment example according to FIGS. 10-12, each combustion chamber a, b, c, and d is provided with inlet and outlet slots E and A, as well as with ignition means 13, which function in a designated area. To improve the effect of the explosion pressure, the wave-like shape of the rotors periphery may be constructed in the manner shown by the drawing detail above FIG. 10. In the embodiment of FIGS. 1315, there are provided bores E and A instead of slots. As shown in the schematic cross-section through both of these embodiments (FIG. 16) the inlet slots or bores E are disposed in the left wall 27 of the housing 1 and the outlet slots or bores A in its right wall 28. The effect is the same as described in connection with the embodiment according to FIGS. 1-9. The only difference is that the inlet and outlet slots or bores E and A are controlled by both side surfaces of rotor 2, as shown schematically in FIGS. 12 and 15. After ignition has taken place, the rotor advances from the rotor contour position shown by the dotted line in the direction of the arrow, past the outlet slot or bore into the following designated position. During this period the outlet is opened and finally closed again. Next, the inlet slot or bore is opened and closed again and so on.

What I claim is:

1. An internal combustion engine of the disk piston type comprising, a circular housing formed with a peripheral wall with side walls, the inner surface of said peripheral wall being cylindrical, a disk rotor having a wave-shaped outer peripheral surface, rotatably mounted in said housing, a shaft for said rotor, extending through said side walls and secured to said rotor, said housing having arcuate recesses extending into the cylindrical face of said peripheral wall, the number of recesses being equal to the number of waves on the rotor periphery and being a whole multiple of four, a plurality of crescent-shaped pendulum blocks, one movably mounted in each of said arcuate recesses respectively, the ends of said blocks remaining in sealing contact with the peripheral surface of said rotor at all times and forming a first set of variable volume chambers between the ends of each pendulum block, and between the inner surface of said pendulum block and the rotor outer periphery, said housing being provided with means admitting a gaseous mixture communicating with said chambers, means discharging combustion products communicating with said chambers, and ignition means communicating with said chambers, said chambers of varying sizes enabling a compression of an aspirated gas mixture to take place after suction, ignition of said compressed mixture and expansion of said chambers due to the pressure of said combustion products.

7 2. The engine according to claim 1, wherein a second set of variable volume chambers between the proximate ends of adjacent pendulum blocks and between the inner surface of said peripheral wall .and the rotor outer periphery, and means admitting a gaseous mixture communicating with said second chambers, means discharging combustion products communicating with said second chambers, and ignition means communicating with said second chambers.

3. The engine according to claim 2, wherein said means for admitting a gas mixture and said means for discharging gases are valves, mounted in at least one of said side walls, said rotor shaft being provided with cams operably connected with said valves.

4. The engine according to claim 3, wherein said admitting means is disposed on one of said side walls and said discharging means is disposed in the other of said side walls.

5. The engine according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said side walls is provided with slots extending therethrough, said slots being adapted to be opened or closed by said rotor during its rotation and constituting said means for admission of combustion mixture and said means for discharging the combustion products.

6. The engine according to claim 5, wherein said admitting means is disposed on one of said side walls and said discharging means is disposed in the other of said side walls.

7. The engine according to claim 1, wherein said References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 813,018 2/1906 Okun 123--14 1,054,729 3/1913 Whittinghill et a1. 12314 1,942,428 1/1934 Hutchinson 12178 2,473,785 6/ 1949 Cate 123-14 2,904,019 9/1959 Shirnomura 123-15 FOREIGN PATENTS 422,107 1/1935 Great Britain.

SAMUEL LEVINE, Primary Examiner.

RALPH H. BRAUNER, KARL J. ALBRECHT,

JOSEPH H. BRANSON, 111., Examiners. 

1. AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE OF THE DISK PISTON TYPE COMPRISING, A CIRCULAR HOUSING FORMED WITH A PERIPHERAL WALL WITH SIDE WALLS, THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID PERIPHERAL WALL BEING CYLINDRICAL, A DISK ROTOR HAVING A WAVE-SHAPED OUTER PERIPHERAL SURFACE, ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING, A SHAFT FOR SAID ROTOR, EXTENDING THROUGH SAID SIDE WALLS AND SECURED TO SAID ROTOR, SAID HOUSING HAVING ARCUATE RECESSES EXTENDING INTO THE CYLINDRICAL FACE OF SAID PERIPHERAL WALL, THE NUMBER OF RECESSES BEING EQUAL TO THE NUMBER OF WAVES ON THE ROTOR PERIPHERY AND BEING A WHOLE MULTIPLE OF FOUR, A PLURALITY OF CRESCENT-SHAPED PENDULUM BLOCKS, ONE MOVABLY MOUNTED IN EACH OF SAID ARCUATE RECESSES RESPECTIVELY, THE ENDS OF SAID BLOCKS REMAINING IN SEALING CONTACT WITH THE PERIPHERAL SURFACE OF SAID ROTOR AT ALL TIMES AND FORMING A FIRST SET OF VARIABLE VOLUME CHAMBERS BETWEEN THE ENDS OF EACH PENDULUM BLOCK, AND BETWEEN THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID PENDULUM BLOCK AND THE ROTOR OUTER PERIPHERY, SAID HOUSING BEING PROVIDED WITH MEANS ADMITTING A GASEOUS MIXTURE COMMUNICATING WITH SAID CHAMBERS, MEANS DISCHARGING COMBUSTION PRODUCTS COMMUNICATING WITH SAID CHAMBERS AND IGNITION MEANS COMMUNCIATING WITH SAID CHAMBERS, SAID CHAMBER OF VARYING SIZES ENABLING A COMPRESSION OF AN ASPIRATED GAS MIXTURE TO TAKE PLACE AFTER SUCTION, IGNITION OF SAID COMPRESSED MIXTURE AND EXPANSION OF SAID CHAMBERS DUE TO THE PRESSURE OF SAID COMBUSTION PRODUCTS. 